Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM's speech at an interaction with women Self Help Groups in Aurangabad
Bharat Mata ki Jai!
Bharat Mata ki Jai!
All the dignitaries present on stage; mothers, sisters and friends who have come here from far off places! I can see all the sisters standing far behind; probably they are not even able to see anything from that far. Yet you have come here to attend the event and shower your blessings; I am extremely grateful to you all.
All of you are playing a major role in the development of the country, financially empowering our villages, the rural areas and your family. I salute all the sisters who are involved in building a New India empowering the country through Self-Help Groups and especially congratulate sister Pankaja.
Today an important building related to the development of Aurangabad has been inaugurated a short while back. The signature building of Aurangabad Industrial City is now ready for service. This will be an important building in the new Aurangabad city. This building will handle many facilities of the entire industrial city.
Aurangabad is becoming a new smart city; it is also going to be a major hub of industrial activities of the country. It is also an important part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Many big companies have started working here. In the near future, more companies will come here. These companies are going to provide new employment opportunities to lakhs of youngsters here.
Aurangabad is witnessing another huge accomplishment today. This achievement is yours i.e. crores of sisters of the country.
The resolution that we had taken to provide 8 crore free gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme has been accomplished in the presence of these crores of sisters on this platform today. We have not only been successful, but have achieved the target 7 months ahead of schedule.
Out of these 8 crore connections, about 44 lakh have been provided to Maharashtra alone. I congratulate all of you, and every sister of the country who has got rid of smoke, for this great achievement. I also salute those friends throughout the country who have worked hard and have helped in making this scheme a success.
In order to help our poor sisters getting suffocated in smoke, a target was set to first five crore gas connections for free. In March last year, this target was expanded to eight crore. Whenever I met you during the elections, I have always talked about achieving this goal. I am satisfied that this work was completed within 100 days of formation of the government.
This work was not limited to just giving connections. For this, more elaborate arrangements were made, and a holistic work was done. A much larger infrastructure was required for it, which was constructed in a very short time. Most of the 10 thousand new LPG Distributers for this purpose were appointed in the villages. Moreover, new LPG bottling plants were set up throughout the country so that there is no shortage of gas cylinders. The government expanded the gas pipeline network besides increasing the terminal capacity around the ports.
We are trying to ensure that there is no single family in the country that doesn't have an LPG connection. Besides, a 5 kg cylinder is also being promoted to make this scheme more convenient. In many areas of the country, the work of delivering gas through pipes is also going on at a faster pace.
Brothers and sisters,
Now we have started with a big mission, which is also directly related to all of you, i.e. crores of sisters of the country. I am well aware of the difficulty all of the sisters have to face for water. Jal Jivan mission has been started only to get rid every sister in the country of this problem. Under this mission, the whole country is committed to conserve water so that water can be delivered from door to door. It has been decided that in the coming 5 years, about Rs. 3.5 lakh crores will be spent on this water campaign.
You might have heard that socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia ji had delivered a speech in Parliament in the 60-70s. He had said that the women of India had two major problems. We should solve it immediately. These are the things said by Lohiaji during the 60-70 periods. He said that there were two major problems faced by women of India, one was sanitation and the other was water. That is, there is no toilet for women, and there is no water available for women to run their homes. If these two problems are solved then the women of this country will become the powerhouse to solve the problems of the country. Lohia ji is gone; the governments changed; leaders changed, it is us who have decided that every house should have toilets and every house will also have water.
This region of Marathawada is going to be its biggest beneficiary anyway and all of you are also making commendable efforts along with the government of Devendra ji. Now Devendra ji has described in detail about his dream of bringing water to this area, in front of you. The first water grid being built in Marathawada is a commendable effort. After this grid is ready, the availability of water in this area will increase. This will help in providing drinking water to every village, and irrigation water to every field.
The Central and the state governments are taking several steps such as providing irrigation facilities to farmers. Many such efforts like Direct Benefit Transfer to the bank account of every farmer family, pension facility to farmers after the age of 60 years, vaccination campaign to keep livestock healthy are being made.
Brothers and sisters,
Your contribution is very crucial in improving the economic condition of the village. Self-Help Groups, the work you are doing in the form of women's savings components, is not only empowering you financially but is also improving the family conditions. When the family is financially empowered, the strength of the country increases automatically.
Ladies, in view of your role in the development of the country, special efforts have been made in the last five years to further expand this movement. New entrepreneurship opportunities are being created for women through Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Rural Livelihoods Mission. In the new India, we are moving ahead of the welfare of women and thinking of national welfare under the leadership of women.
That is why important announcements for Self-Help Groups have been made in this year's budget. The subsidy on interest for women Self-Help Groups is now being implemented across the country. Similarly, the members of the group who have Jan-Dhan bank accounts will receive an additional benefit of an overdraft of up to Rs 5000. Now you will not have to take more money from any money lender. This means that even if there is not single money deposited in your account, even then you can withdraw 5 thousand rupees from it for your need. This is a kind of easy loan, whose facility will be available on Jan-Dhan account.
Similarly, under the Mudra scheme, one woman member of every Self-Help Group will get a loan of up to Rs 1 lakh. This will help you to start or grow your business.
Friends,
Mudra Yojana is playing an important role in turning the sisters into entrepreneurs. So far, around 20 crore loans have been distributed across the country under the scheme. Of these, about 14 crore loans have been given to our sisters and daughters. In Maharashtra too, out of 1.5 crore beneficiaries of Mudra Yojana, 1.25 crore beneficiaries are our mothers and sisters. We have to intensify and strengthen this change coming in the field of women entrepreneurship. For this, all kinds of steps required to be taken at the government level will be taken.
As a Self-Help Group, you are not only a strong medium for economic empowerment, but also an important watchdog for social change. The government has taken several steps from saving the lives of daughters, to ensuring their education and creating a safe environment for them. Here the government of Devendra ji has done a commendable job in this direction. But government planning and legislation alone are not enough. We need to bring a comprehensive change in the mindset of the society towards daughters. The role of AAP sisters and daughters is also important for the same.
Recently you have seen that a strict law has been enacted to get Muslim sisters out of the evil of triple talaq. Now you have to spread awareness about this law within the society.
When we achieve the goal ahead of time, the courage to accomplish the bigger resolutions automatically enhances. When work is done honestly and with a good intent, then there is no lack of effort in it. You must be familiar with what had happened to Chandrayaan.
Our scientists had tried to achieve a major goal, but there was an obstacle. Scientists had been working hard for this mission for a long time.
I was with them last night and this morning. They were sentimental, but at the same time, they were very confident of working at a faster pace than on; by taking lessons from what had happened and moving forward. With this kind of a commitment only the country can be taken forward and the lives of the people can be made easier.
Due to the commitment of such passionate people in different parts of the country, several efforts such as providing electricity to every village in the country and gas connections to 8 crore families have been completed ahead of time. Now very soon the whole country is moving towards declaring itself Open Defecation Free.
I am confident that in 2022, when we will be celebrating 75 years of independence, the resolutions we have taken will surely be fulfilled.
Brothers and sisters,
By 2022, we are moving fast towards the goal of providing a pucca house to every poor. So far, about 1crore 80 lakh houses have been built in the villages and cities of the country. The beneficiaries have moved to live therein. Many people ask us that the scheme for providing houses to the poor was run even before, and the funds were also available earlier, but what did you do differently?
First of all, I want to say that we used to believe that we have to build homes, not houses; we should build your dream home and not just a house with four walls. We wanted to build houses where all facilities are also available. That is, apart from the ways of erecting four walls in the name of the house, we needed to do something better. Our intention was to provide maximum facilities in the shortest possible time without any cost.
Friends,
Our government did not adopt a fixed formula for the houses that should be built, It was not that the houses would have to be built in the same way as on papers. No, but on the contrary, we also took into account the needs and desires of the local people while constructing the houses and making plans to build houses keeping those things in mind. In order to ensure all the basic amenities in the house, we combined various government schemes together so that electricity, gas connections, toilets and all such facilities would also be present in those houses simultaneously.
We have heard the needs of you all so that these houses could be made according to the expectations of the people. After this, not only the area of the house was increased but the funds for construction was also raised. We also included local artisans and labourers in this process. Many women had worked. You will also hear words like 'Rani Mistri' if you go to Jharkhand today. We also focused on delivery of homes in minimum time, without any extra cost. For this, technology was adopted as an important part of the same.
Brothers and sisters,
We have also tried to strengthen the dreams of those who wish to buy their own house. To further promote the affordable houses, the government made an additional exemption in income tax on the interest of Rs 1.5 lakh on home loans so that the middle class family can buy a home.
Our emphasis was also on transparency. Photographs of different stages of house construction were uploaded online. Correct information was made available to the administration in a transparent manner. Moreover, there was a lack of transparency in the field of real estate. As a result, people buying homes were facing serious problems. The government has worked to instill confidence in the home buyers by enacting the RERA law. Today the RERA law has been notified in most states. Tribunal is also working. Lakhs of new flats are being constructed under this project.
Overall, we have worked with a holistic approach for the house. If we had come up with different isolated plans, it would have been difficult to achieve a huge success. Large-scale solutions are possible only when all departments work together and all decisions are made considering a major goal and when all the ministries and all the schemes work together on one track. This is the hallmark of the functioning of our government - think in totality, not in a piecemeal manner, and work together by taking along everyone.
All of you have contributed immensely to the mass movements that have taken place in the last 5 years, from cleanliness to bank to transactions, as well as behavioral changes in the society. That is why for the next 5 years too, I have immense faith in you regarding the fulfillment of the resolutions that have been taken. I thank you with the expectation that these beliefs will be strengthened further.
Thank you and so many mothers and sisters have come on the day of the festival to bless us in such large numbers; it is an empowering feeling in itself. Saluting this power of mother, I end my speech. Say along with me loudly with both hands up-
Bharat Mata ki Jai!
Thanks a lot!